I've been working hard over the past eighteen months volunteering for Illustrators Australia (IA). We've been moving the organisation to a new administration software system and planning for the future. It certainly been a challenge and I've learnt so much, met some amazingly smart people and hopefully it will stand IA in good stead for the next decade. Fingers crossed.

Along with all that, IA are putting on an exhibition, SHOUT! opening 6pm this Friday, at Collingwood Gallery, 292 Smith Street, Collingwood and runs for two weeks. I have a piece in this! You can check out the details on the IA website here and if you can't make it but what to see (and possibly buy a piece), there is an online auction! (fancy, I know!)

As well as being a illustrator, she has a lot of knowledge to share. Check her website out to see her portfolio and her live journal for more of her articles and goings on. Sarah is also active on the usual socials!

I’ve often thought that the images available to me as icons for Instagram, Twitter etc were a bit boring and the same as everyone else! So I finally got around to making my own.

This is the sort of thing illustrators can do for people, why be the same as everyone else? Have something that is made just for you, reflects your personality and helps you stand out of the crowd! And I've updated my about me page!

With submissions to agents and publishers opening in earnest in February I’ve begun to put together a new portfolio. This is why I’ve been a little distracted and not quite so active on the socials.

I’ve been developing a new style and exercising my thoughts attending intensive courses with Australian Writers Centre. So I have researched the literary agents I would love to work with. Very scientifically, basing it all entirely on the illustrators who I admire and are represented by them.

In this process I've also listed the Australian publishers who I see my work fitting neatly into their lists. Most of course don’t take unsolicited manuscripts but it is good to have goals.

Soon I’ll be updating my portfolio and bringing it all together as a package for attendance at KidLitVic again this year. The line up this year looks great, I'm hoping to meet a lot of people!

I went to the Triennial at the NGV. I have no words. Nothing I type here could possibly do it justice. Ron Mueck’s work Mass, is just astounding, the sheer scale of it, the curation and placement in the room, the colour of the walls…

You can see the scale by the person I caught in the photo on the top left, this person was a about 180cm (nearly 6ft). These skulls are huge.

I would encourage anyone to make time to see this exhibition. Impossible, as it is, to see it all in one day try but at least see some of it if you can.

We spent New Years at Eden. It’s a beautiful place and everyone should stay away! With it having perfect weather and crystal clear waters I don't like my chances of having a private bit of paradise for very long. In fact the small town was completely booked out while we were there.

There is a little creek running through the block where we stayed and I think I scared a platypus! A very loud plop and splash in the water which can only have been made by a large animal in a stream with no fish, so I’m calling it (even if I have no photographic evidence).

I also saw number of different birds, Blue Fairy Wrens and European Goldfinch being the highlights for me. I tried so very hard to take photos and iPhones are good but not up to the task of capturing small birds darting in and out of dense shrubs. Or it might have been operator error.

It's been amazing over the last couple of years to see the parade of unfairness and unkindness on all sides of politics in Australia. Less stealth like, which has been used in the past and more upfront meanness is really the hallmark of the last, I would say, four parliaments.

The downright misogyny directed at Julia Gillard. Her parliaments lack of action on same-sex marriage. Kevin Rudd and his off-shore detention hell holes. Tony Abbott dismantling of the carbon tax and eating onions, raw, with the skin on. And then we come to Malcolm Turnbull, beholden to the right wing conservative to keep his bum on the big chair. These are just a few of the craptacular highlights of the last seven years (yes, seven years - four Prime Ministers in seven - count 'em - seven years. You can see my eyes rolling from space.)

Malcolm has bowed to the pressure of his party room and they've dreamed up a non-binding, non-mandatory, non-plebicite postal survey about same sex marriage. Rather than do their jobs. It is going to cost over $120 million dollars.

As I write this the High Court of Australia are hearing a case against running the postal survey. So it may on may not even happen. But in the event that it does I'm nailing my colours to the mast.

YES : Love is love, let people marry.

So my birds for the weeks leading up to the non-binding, non-mandatory, non-plebicite postal survey (if it even happens) are all showing their support for changing the marriage act to be inclusive of all the people.

...and imagine, what the kindergartens of Australia would do with $120 million dollars instead.

Lately my sketchbook is all about people. Specifically the back of the head. Train travel and cafés provide lots of subjects, but staring at people can be a bit confronting, for both the stare-er and the stare-ee.

I've seen the panicked look on people's faces, the uncomfortable shift in their seat, hunch of the shoulders and the blush as it creeps across their skin when they realise they are being drawn.

The back of their head, though is way more non-confrontational and it gives me practice at size, shape, form, hair, fabric, bags, phones, ears and sometimes, even hands. Phones often give you cover, people don't notice anything when they're on their phones, so occasionally I get a face.

These are untouched photos straight from my sketchbook, no fiddling with lighting or brightness etc. I usually post this sort of thing on my @hilary_cresp instagram if you're interested.

I've been a bit slack with the blogging, but busy is as busy does and because not everyone has Instagram here's what I've been doing...

As you can see Birdies have exploded from my pencil and have taken a life of their own. Up to all sorts of adventures. Hopefully a wonderful and generous publisher can see the potential and gives me a call. I have so many ideas for what these little darlings can achieve, you just never know what they'll do next!

Last night I went to the Craft Victoria seminar on market readiness, and I learned so much I though my brain was going to burst!

There were two speakers Penny Min Ferguson of MinPin and Leah Jackson of Leah Jackson Ceramics, a well as the person organising the event from Craft Victoria, Kim Goodwin. They all spoke well, clear, concise and open about their experiences and the tips they’ve learned from going to markets and building their businesses. Lots of guidance on having a successful market experiences - even if you don’t make money out of it…

To be honest, I knew a lot of this stuff - BUT I hadn’t been able to put it together in a coherent package enough for my tiny brain to see how it worked. But this seminar showed me, which was awesome! And they liked my tea towels - they have excellent taste.

I just need to decide what I really want my business to be. But I really need to thank the wonderful Aniquah Stevenson for her advice in doing this seminar, she is awesome and her work is great - check out her new website http://www.aniquahstevenson.com

Time for a tune, Hilary Cresp, 2016

In the last couple of weeks I’ve sent off a few illustration agency submissions and to a literacy agency. But I won’t hear from them anytime soon, they get hundreds of applications and it takes long time to view them, and they only get back to those they want to see more from. So we wait.

AND...mark the weekend of the 11-13 November in your calendars! ArtSpace8, where my studio is, is having and open studios with a group exhibition and market stalls (so I can put what I've learnt into practice), with new work on display and some product for sale. More details to come!

Anyway, I’ve been doing a lot of birdies lately…and one in particular got a bit of a run. I listen to a podcast called Stupidly Big - they do a segment called 'Shiver me Tingies' : what makes you feel good in a happy friendly way like, slipping into clean sheets or hearing the sound of a champagne cork pop. I was part way through making it when, they mentioned on the podcast that someone had already make them something. So I was in two minds as to sending it to them, but in the end I did - they loved it and (with my permission) made it their avatar for Twitter. YAY!

Shiver me tingies, Hilary Cresp, 2016

Don't forget that you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram using the @_essayer handle or sign up for my mailing list.

After picking it up I’ve put it on one of the gallery walls attached to the studio space here in Artspace8. It looks great (even if I do say so myself) and I haven’t got tired of it.

Unravelling (1,2&3), pencil on paper, Hilary Cresp, 2016

The intricacies of doing a piece quite this large is a challenge but one I’m willing to take up and I have a lot of this on my mind so I think it will form the backbone of a new exhibition.

At DACE we did make a purchase… Eddie Zammitt and Travis Price collaborated on a limited edition print, which ticked our fancy. It’s a beautiful image well executed by a master of the genre. I love it.

I also took down the exhibition Endless, at Frankston Art Centre (FAC). It had been up there for a while and made a few sales, which was great. The curator there was really supportive as well as being pragmatic, which is of great benefit as I am not alone in being somewhat unsure of myself, so a guiding hand is wonderful. She gave me a couple of leads which I will follow up in the coming days.

Currently, I am working on a groovy little picture book. Hopefully the magic publishing fairy sees it and loves it as much as I do… and publishes it. I haven’t got a title yet but it will be finalised in the coming weeks.

Birdie, Ink, Hilary Cresp, 2016

I used the little darling in a screen printing workshop with Tim Growcott, a fabulous textile artist. Held at Oak Hill Gallery, Tim showed us how to make a screen using photographic emulsion and print on a carousel. The following week he showed how to strip a screen and placement printing - but I missed that day… :(

Open from 9am-5pm Monday to Friday and on Saturday from 9am until 2pm, it is being shown in the Atrium Gallery now until the 16th July, so if you missed its last showing and wanted to catchup with it or if you just wanted to see it again, you can!

It's been an interesting month. The print put into the local art show sold! Which was unexpected and wonderful. Having no expectation of selling, and printing it for the purpose of getting ready for my own exhibition made this a bonus... and YES, I'm putting together my first solo exhibition.

The studio where I work has a gallery space attached and I've booked myself in and created a deadline. I've even told other people about it so, it is on!

Dates are to be confirmed but regardless, everything that is to be framed needs to be completed by the end of August. eek! Only a couple of weeks away.

If you want to be kept informed just sign up to my mailing list or follow me on twitter (@_essayer).

The works will all be about the washing. Yep, I still haven't got it out of my system. Hopefully this will purge it from me and I can approach the laundry with the same disinterest as the rest of the population. But I doubt it. The washing is always there, another load to wash, another to hang out, another to sort. It never f**king ends. You can never retire from the washing.

I've had an image in me, burning a hole in my brain, for quite some time and like anything, it needs to get out.

With the opportunity to prepare for a local art show in the works, I'm using it to justify sending the time on it.

It was always going to be a lino cut. Funny how sometimes, you just know... sometimes it's clear and not right unless it's done that way. Other times of course you can puddle around for hours trying out different mediums, formats, compositions. Not this time.

I've done a small version to test out my technique and it seemed to go well so I'm looking forward to getting it finished and seeing it all.

Recently the Melbourne Art Book Fair was held and I went to the opening night at the NGV. It was a crowded affair with many beautiful books on display and for sale. It was a fantastic opportunity to see books from boutique and micro publishers as many of these type of publications a not held in bookstores. They're even hard to come across in independent bookstores.

I'm still processing some of the things I saw on the night, and I might discuss the later in other posts. Needless to say though the hall looked gorgeous, we are so lucky to have this available to us... (And I bought a tote bag! I love a tote bag.)

As you can probably see I've redone my website, this time with Squarespace.

I transferred the last two blog posts to this format which is why the dates on both are the same.

Using the new platform was an interesting experience. I'm not technically illiterate but still found it challenging. I think the evolution of 'help' pages in the tech space in general is continuing to be a growth area. And trying to get my .au domain to point to the right place was fiddly, but I did it!

The industry seems to want us to do it all, which I think is the way to go - we then get to have more control in our own presentation on the web, and they try very hard to make it available to a broad audience, but have yet to hit a way of cutting through. I don't know what the answer is, it would be impossible to try and cover all bases of technical proficiency and platforms... and cultural differences (even if we all spoke the same language, semantics are everything) I don't envy their task at all.

In general though, having used a number of platforms now, this experience has been the best yet. Its clean and simple design, although not intuitive enough for me yet, is the easiest I have had to use to date.